


Best Xmas

by quickaszoe



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 20:29:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13107954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quickaszoe/pseuds/quickaszoe
Summary: Santana and Brittany spend Christmas Eve  together in New York but the day doesn't go exactly as planned.





	Best Xmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Slytherinsheadbitch91](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherinsheadbitch91/gifts).



> A fluffy one shot written for the Nano Christmas Fic exchange.

Santana was met by the muffled sound of Christmas carols seeping through the walls the moment she stepped off the elevator. She was caught somewhere between a laugh and a groan. She had just spent the last two hours at the mall being accosted by holiday cheer at every turn and frankly she'd had enough. Between the Salvation Army Santas and their incessant jingle bells, the ho-ho-hoing of some pervy old guy in a suit coaxing kids into his lap with the promise of candy and presents and the massive tree in the middle of the promenade with enough blinking lights to give someone a seizure and so much glitter it looked like a fairy threw up on it, she had been on the verge of unleashing Snix on some unsuspecting shopper. It had been nearly impossible to move amongst the teeming horde of holiday bargain seekers and their sticky, screaming progeny. Her shins were bruised. Her shoulders were sore. Her feet ached in their fabulous Jimmy Choo's and her head was pounding. All she wanted to do was go inside, pour a glass of wine and relax in peace and quiet after a long, stressful day.  
But it was sweet, in an obnoxious, holiday hobbit sort of way, that Rachel had tried to mask the fact that Santana was coming home to an empty apartment on Christmas Eve with manufactured joviality. Kurt had left early that morning, heading back to Lima in time to spend Christmas Eve with his family. And Rachel's dads had flown in to whisk her away on a cruise. Neither of them would be back until the new year.

Santana was lucky enough to have gotten Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, but she had a shift at the diner on the 26th that she couldn't afford to miss.

With a resigned sigh she shuffled towards the loft's sliding door and pulled it open with a little more force than necessary. It hit the wall with a hollow thud and bounced back towards her.

"Britt?" She had to raise her voice to be heard over the cacophony that was dog's barking jingle bells.

The bags she had been carrying fell to the ground with a dull thud as her grip on them went slack. She blinked but the image before her did not disappear. Brittany stood in the middle of the living room. She had a strand of silver garland wound around her neck like a scarf and was bopping her head in time to the noise.

"Hey, San." Brittany smiled brightly and flipped a wave.

"What are you doing here?" 

She had talked to Brittany two days ago and the other girl hadn't mentioned anything about being in New York. She had talked about how excited she was for the upcoming winter break and how much she loved teaching kids dance at the community center. She had caught Santana up on all the McKinley gossip and everything that had been going on around town. She hadn't breathed a word about coming to New York.

"Early Christmas present from my parents. Surprised?"

"Hells yeah, I'm surprised."

"Good surprised? Or bad surprised?"

Santana's heart sank at the way Brittany seemed to deflate with her questions. Her shoulders slumped and she dipped her head, breaking eye contact. Santana knew that things hadn't been great between them since she'd moved to New York. The distance had proven to be more of a challenge than either of them had anticipated. Their conversations lately had been few and far between, often times ending abruptly as one or the other had to rush off somewhere. Even so, she hated the idea of Brittany thinking she would be anything other than absolutely thrilled to see her. Despite their rough patch, Brittany was still the love of her life, the one who meant the most to her in the whole entire world.

"Good surprise. The best surprise."  
Santana shook herself out of her stupor and closed the distance between them.

She fell into Brittany's waiting arms and it was like coming home. The familiar scent of lavender and citrus enveloped her as she buried her face in Brittany's shoulder and clung like she would never let go. Holding Brittany like this, being held by her, in this moment nothing else mattered. The distance, the tension, the uncertainty, it all fell away.

It took only a few minutes for Brittany to get restless. Her hands started to wander, sliding up and down Santana's sides. She began to shift from one foot to the other, swaying them both gently from side to side as she did so. She never could stand still for long.

Reluctantly Santana loosened her grip, through she didn't pull away completely. She kept her arms draped loosely around Brittany's shoulders as she took in the sight of her. A part of her was still unable to believe that she was really here.  
It had been months since they had seen each other in person. And while phone calls and Skype bridged the distance it wasn't a true substitute for being able to look directly into Brittany's eyes. Or to hold her and feel the warm solidness of her body.

She had so many questions. Like how long was Brittany here for. And what did her visit mean. But she tamped down on all of them and tried to enjoy the simple pleasure of her presence.

"Its really good to see you." Santana pushed up onto her toes and pressed her lips against Brittany's in a soft, sweet kiss. "I've missed you," she added when she pulled back.

Suddenly the idea of spending Christmas in New York didn't seem so depressing. She had been bummed at the fact that she wouldn't get to see her family for the holidays. Even if Christmas meant dinner at her abuela's house and her abuela still wasn't speaking to her. And if the number of family members that had unfollowed her on Facebook were any indication neither were some of her aunts and uncles. Why should she go and subject herself to heated glares and cold shoulders from disapproving family members when she could hang out in a for once blissfully quiet loft? Even if Chinese food and sappy Lifetime holiday movies were a poor substitute for the spread that her abuela put out. And she would trade the peaceful quiet of an empty loft for the chaos and noise of a big family gathering in a heartbeat.

Having Brittany here changed everything. She would love New York at Christmastime. The lights, the sounds, even the crowds of people. Santana couldn't wait to take her skating in the park. Or to Rockefeller Center at night when it was all lit up. There were so many store displays that she would absolutely love.

The long stretch of lonely days were rapidly filling with plans. Where once Santana was worried about boredom, now she was worried that they wouldn't have time to fit it all in. She knew she was getting ahead of herself. She didn't even know how long Brittany was here for. Or what sights she might want to check out while she was here. It didn't really matter though, whether they did it all, or they did none of it. Brittany was here, and that made it the best Christmas ever.

"I'm really glad you're here." Santana pulled Brittany in for another hug. This time when they pulled apart Brittany stepped away completely and spun in place.

"This place isn't very Christmas-y," she said, a frown marring her features as she took in what was an admittedly lackluster attempt at decorating. There was a strand of lights draped haphazardly around the frame of the loft's one window, the bulbs flickering erratically and occasionally winking out altogether and some garland wrapped around the support posts.

"Kurt's in Lima for the holidays and Rachel's Jewish." Santana shrugged as she offered Brittany the explanation that had become almost a mantra over the past few weeks as the three roommates had come up with excuses to explain their lack of effort in making the place festive. 

"Yeah. But you're not in Lima for the holidays. Or Jewish."  
Again Santana shrugged. She had silently been torn between what would be more depressing, spending the holidays alone in an apartment all decked out in holiday cheer or in one devoid of it. 

"We should get a tree."

"On Christmas Eve?"

It was still early, just past two in the afternoon but still, what were the chances that there would still be someplace that had them? Santana knew it was a long shot. Yet as she stared into Brittany's wide, pleading, cerulean eyes Santana felt a stirring of excitement.

"There's a place down the block..." 

Brittany did a happy dance before grabbing Santana's hand and dragging her out of the apartment.

Santana allowed herself to be pulled down the hall and into the elevator. As they began their slow descent Brittany began making a list of things they would need to make this a proper holiday. From ornaments to tinsel to a turkey to egg nog. Santana doubted they'd find all of it. Or that they even needed all of it. She had no idea what figgy pudding was, but she sure as hell wasn't eating it. However Brittany's enthusiasm was contagious. By the time the doors slid open Santana was caught up in her vision of creating a picture perfect Christmas for the two of them.

Their first stop was the Christmas tree lot at the end of the block, which was unsurprisingly almost barren. The only selection left was a handful of dried out, slowly dying trees in the back corner of the lot. Some of them were a decent height and size, but Santana was fairly certain all of the needles would fall off if they attempted to lift one and carry it home. She doubted the selection would be any better anywhere else. 

"Maybe we should see if any of the stores have any fake trees left." 

She tugged gently on Brittany's hand, but Brittany shook her head and led her a few feet in the opposite direction.

"This one." Brittany pointed down at a scrawny little shrub. It was still green, but it couldn't have had more than five branches. 

"That one?" Santana pointed as well, making sure she was looking at the right tree. Brittany nodded.

"Britt, Charlie Brown would be ashamed of that tree."  
"But it's so cute. Please, San?" Brittany made her eyes wide and offered up her most winning smile. 

Santana sighed. She never could say no to Brittany. 

"Fine." Gripping the tiny trunk she hefted the tree up and over her shoulder. "Let's go find the guy and see how much he wants for this thing." 

"Thanks, San." Brittany bounced on her toes in excitement, then pressed a kiss to Santana's cheek.

"Uh-huh," Santana grumbled, even though she was biting back a smile. "Let's just get out of here."

After dropping the tree off at the loft they headed back out, this time to the grocery store to pick up supplies for the next few days. They hadn't gone more than a few steps inside before Santana heart dropped as she realized that a traditional Christmas dinner would not be an option. The vegetable portion of the produce section was practically decimated. There were no carrots or potato's or squash in sight. They would have to make do with whatever canned selections were left. There was a large crowd gathered around a row of freezers down the back center aisle advertising Christmas turkeys and ham's, but when Santana elbowed her way through and peeked in she saw that there wasn't much left. There were no hams in sight and the only turkeys left were so huge Santana doubted they'd even fit into her oven. Sighing she elbowed her way back out of the crowd and shook her head at Brittany's questioning look.

Further exploration of the store revealed that anything even remotely holiday related, from deli meat to frozen turkey dinners had been snatched up. 

"Sorry, Britt." Santana wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze.  
"It's okay." Brittany leaned into her embrace for a moment before pulling away. She took control of their cart and headed down the closest aisle, pulling down items as she went. Santana trailed behind, shaking her head at some of Brittany's selections but saying nothing to deter her. 

By the time she had finished their cart was full of pop and chips and sugary cereals along with frozen pizzas and ice cream. It wasn't exactly the traditional turkey dinner Santana had envisioned but it was still better than eating takeout alone.

After the Christmas tree lot and the grocery store, Santana didn't exactly have high hopes that the dollar store would have much in the way of Christmas decorations. She was not wrong. What had a few weeks ago been aisle upon aisle of green and red, of glitter and sparkles was now down to a single buggy full of tattered bows and ragged tinsel. Brittany took her time picking through it, ferreting out the least sad and worn looking items. Santana supposed they would match their sad and worn looking tree. 

It had started to snow while they were in the dollar store. Not the big, fat fluffy flakes that fell crunched softly under your boots and covered everything in a shimmery blanket. Instead it was the hard little pellets that stung at your face and made the roads and sidewalks slippery. Santana ducked her head and quickened her pace, eager to get back to the loft so she could get warm and dry. She made it to the corner before she realized Brittany had not kept pace. She spun around to find Brittany trailing behind, mouth open and tongue out, trying to catch the snowflakes on her tongue. Santana was shivering, her hair was damp and laden down and her toes were starting to tingle from the cold. She should be annoyed that Brittany was dawdling, but as she watched her spin under a streetlight, head thrown back and arms outstretched all she felt was a surge of affection. 

She loved the way Brittany could find pleasure in the simplest of things. Nothing had gone according to plan. They had a crappy tree. They didn't have a turkey or a ham or any of the trimmings for dinner. They had no presents to exchange and now the weather had turned to shit. This was not shaping up to be a picture perfect Christmas. And yet Brittany wasn't disheartened at all.

Her enthusiasm didn't change the fact that neither of them were dressed properly for the weather though. The last thing they needed was to spend their holiday with a cold.  
When Brittany caught up to her Santana wrapped an arm around her waist and ushered her along. 

When they made it back to the apartment Brittany immediately dived into their bags of decorations, humming happily along with the music that was still blaring through the speakers. Santana turned it down a couple notches on her way into the kitchen. She flicked the coffee pot on and while it brewed she rummaged through the groceries for something for dinner. Most of what they, or rather Brittany had selected, was junk food but Santana managed to find some real food for them as well. She popped a couple of frozen pizza's and a loaf of garlic bread in the oven and poured a bag of salad into a bowl. By the time she had finished the coffee was done brewing. She poured them each a cup and headed back out into the living room.

In the time she had been gone Brittany had gotten the lights up on the tree. In the dim light of the apartment the little thing didn't look half bad.

"Hey, San. Check out what I found." Brittany waved her over to where she was kneeling by the TV. 

Santana sent up a silent prayer that she that she wasn't about to be subjected to the millionth viewing of Miracle on 34th Street or It's a Wonderful Life.

"Is that the fireplace channel?" Santana laughed as she caught sight of the screen.

"Yeah. It even sounds like a fireplace. Look." Brittany pressed down on the volume button and slowly crackling and popping became audible. "Pretty cool, huh?" 

Santana used to make fun of her parents for putting it on when they had their dinner date nights but right now she thought it was kind of romantic. The lambent flames cast dancing shadows on the walls and bathed the apartment in a golden glow. She could even almost feel the gentle heat. 

"Yeah. It's pretty cool." 

She trailed Brittany over to the tree and began rifling through the decorations, trying to shake off the feeling of disappointment that the evening had not turned out exactly the way she had envisioned. 

So maybe this wasn't the picture perfect Christmas like the ones she'd had growing up, with a pile of presents under a tall, lush tree. So they had a sad little Charlie Brown tree. And instead of snow they were getting sleet. And rather than a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings they had frozen pizzas and every flavour of potato chips. It was their first Christmas just the two of them. They were spending Christmas Eve decorating their tree in front of a roaring fire, music playing a little too loudly in the background. It was her and it was Brittany, and that made it perfect in it's own way.

FIN.


End file.
